The invention relates to a keyboard, and in particular to a collapsible keyboard.
FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a conventional bi-fold keyboard 10. The keyboard 10 comprises a left key part 12, a right key part 14, a shaft 16 and a bracket 18 connected to the left key part 12. The left key part 12 is pivoted to the right key part 14 via the shaft 16. When the left key part 12 and the right key part 14 are folded together via the shaft 16 into a received mode, the size of the folded keyboard 10 is only reduced by half.
The bracket 18 connected to the left key part 12 (or the right key part 14) serves as a support for a portable electronic device (not shown), e.g. Personal Digital Assistant (PDA). Typically, the electronic device supported by the bracket 18 must be moved to a central region 18′ of the keyboard 10 to be viewable. It is not easy, however, to position the bracket 18 on the center of the unfolded keyboard 10.
FIG. 2 is another schematic view of a conventional quad-fold collapsible keyboard 20. The keyboard 20, comprising a first part 22a, a second part 22b, a third part 22c and a fourth part 22d can be folded by the method depicted in FIG. 1B. The folded keyboard 20 is very thick. Several keys 24 between the second part 22b and the third part 22c are, however, outwardly projected and easily damaged when the keyboard 20 is folded. Thus, a space key 24 of the keyboard 20 must be divided into two sections to respectively locate on the second part 22b and the third part 22c. This results in inferior user sensitivity when operating the keyboard 20.